It’s also important to track restricted and unrestricted funds, and how you are spending them. When you are running a fundraising campaign and say that all donations will go directly to program expenses, those are restricted funds that you need to use to support programs. Our free sample nonprofit budget template is in Excel, allowing you to easily create charts and formulas based on your revenue and expenditures. This resource hub includes a variety of free nonprofit tools and templates designed to streamline your operations and maximize your impact. Budget projections for both the income and the expenses must be achievable.

Advantages of Participating in a Nonprofit Organization or Company

• Create a schedule of the wonderful and/or desperately needed items you could include if you had confidence that you and the board could raise X% more money.
• Instead of predicting revenue by individual grants or line items, the cutoff method looks at revenue as a whole.
• And whether you’re the CEO of your nonprofit or a new staff member, it’s important to understand how your organization’s budget is structured and contributes to the nonprofit’s operations.
• You may see many nonprofits start as grassroots organizations, and at that stage it’s reasonable to use spreadsheets to plan budgets.
• Their program director and activities staff salaries and program budget are tracked in program expenses.

What I’m going to offer you is a basic template and also some advice on how to best use it to tell the story behind the numbers. Because as I said above, the numbers tell a story — but you need to learn how to tell it. Once you download your budget template, you may be wondering – what next?

Other Nonprofit Resources

But no matter how you look at it, if not handled properly and divided with care, these donations can fall short very badly. For example, WWF (World Wildlife Fund) frequently reviews its budgets to optimize spending for conservation projects, making data-driven decisions for global campaigns. In FY23, WWF increased spending on conservation programs by 16% compared to FY22.

• Modern accounting software can automate much of this monitoring process, saving time while improving accuracy.
• Even organizations that are non-profit will need to come up with a budget in order for them to continue their operations.
• For example, if you have a strong fundraising track record and anticipate an 80% chance of achieving the predicted $100,000 revenue goal, the forecasted amount would be $80,000.
• Additionally, this spreadsheet not only allows you to report on your nonprofit’s progress either on an annual or quarterly basis.

The Importance of Budgeting for Nonprofits

Above all, a budget for non-profit organizations must remain flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances while maintaining fiscal responsibility. The basic purpose of budgeting is to control and manage the organization’s financial resources. If you want to give a charity in the secure hands that convey it to the needy people, nonprofit organizations play an important role in the betterment of the needy people. Some people donate money or other things to serve other people, but some provide community service for their community. By following these five steps, you can create a nonprofit operating budget that sets you up for financial stability and growth. Carefully track your numbers this year, and next year’s budget will be easier to create.

• 💸 If you’re feeling overwhelmed, try using your goals to prioritize expenses—and remember, you can always increase spending if you’re able to raise more revenue later in the year.
• For budgeting and allocations we suggest that you separate your activities into distinct programs that will provide meaningful insight into the financial model.
• This financial evaluation is not your average evaluation though, it is done to manage a certain organization’s finances and money.
• The above template is an example of a Grants budget template that specifies how to form a budget on the basis of grants, how to make effective use of the grants, and so on.
• Nonprofit staff members should be aware of the difference between restricted and unrestricted funds so that they can understand the differences between program budgets.

The primary purpose of a nonprofit operating budget is to provide a breakdown of the annual projected revenues and expenses for your organization. The main The Key Benefits of Accounting Services for Nonprofit Organizations objective is to provide a broad idea of the nonprofit’s financial plans for the upcoming year. Ideally, you want to review this on a regular basis so you have a clear idea of your nonprofit’s financial health. A nonprofit budget template is a fillable document that simplifies your budgeting.

We’ll explore why budgeting is crucial for nonprofits and share 9 proven tips that successful organizations use to maintain financial stability while advancing their mission. A well-structured nonprofit budget serves as your organization’s financial planning roadmap, guiding decisions about program investments, staffing needs, and growth opportunities. This becomes particularly important when balancing mission-driven goals with fiscal responsibility, whether you’re running a local charity or a growing foundation. To ensure that your nonprofit is adequately funded, be sure to set a separate budget for each department within your overall financial plan.

• Ideally, salary allocations will be based on regular, reliable tracking of time.
• For ASF, that includes anything related to running the extracurricular programs, including staff and supplies (i.e. soccer balls).
• Examples might include materials purchased specifically for a tutoring program or the cost of an evaluation consultant to document the results of a preschool program.
• Making a budget is a whole lot easier when you’re not relying on guesswork.
• Download this CSV template to use in Excel, Google Sheets, or your preferred spreadsheet software.

Key Components Of A Nonprofit Budget:

They must submit their financial statements that include the salaries of directors, key employee sheets, etc. They must have transparency with their investors and shareholders; the budget details should be made public so that clients and investors can keep a check on their funds. This budgeting template can also be used as a checklist to ensure that your program has sufficient backing financially to be fruitful.